Denton’s Sunnybrook waves hello to world — and record deal

by Sarah Crisman

If you've seen Sleep Whale perform live recently, you may have noticed the unassuming guitar player, Paul North, rocking gently beside his near-identical brother, Joel. Paul has been lending his chops to Sleep Whale for a while now (including on the recording of the hypnotic Little Brite album). Now he's stepping ever so slightly out from the shadow of his talented older brother with his own project, Sunnybrook, to much critical acclaim and a brand new record deal with indie label, Lefse. Rest assured that the tight-knit, freakishly-talented North family continues to collaborate on their respective projects: Joel plays cello and violin with Sunnybrook, and Paul can still be seen on-stage with Sleep Whale.

The Denton band has been much-buzzed about on go-to music blogs like Pitchfork and Gorilla vs. Bear -- even We Shot JR has spoken of them in a nearly positive light. (We know that can be very difficult for them, so snaps to JR for almost appreciating something from Denton.)

It takes precisely eight seconds into a Sunnybrook song to see why Lefse (pronounced "leff-suh") was eager to snatch them up. The music is mellow and addictive -- a home-y blend of folk and ambiance with hauntingly familiar vocals that are as comforting as falling asleep on your mom's couch while the smells of dinner waft in over her laughter. One gets the impression that the North home is a very loving environment.

We're excited to hear what Sunnybrook has in store with Lefse -- his full-length album will be out early 2010.